The present invention relates generally to the fabrication of wire harnesses and, more particularly to the coding or keying of the electrical connectors which are terminated to wires in a wire harness.
Wire harnesses are commonly used in a wide variety of electronic products to connect electrical components of the products together. Wire harnesses typically include a plurality of wires with connectors terminated to one end, or both ends, of the wires. The connectors terminated to the wire ends may be of either one-piece construction or multiple-piece construction in which the pieces are interlocked together to enclose the harness wires. Regardless of the style of construction of the connector, they often include male elements which are adapted to be received within a socket of corresponding female elements attached to electrical or electronic assemblies. The engagement between the male and female elements is effected by pushing the engagement ends of the male connector elements into sockets of the corresponding female elements.
A single electrical apparatus may include many mating pairs of identical connector assemblies. Accordingly, a means is provided for keying or coding such assemblies to ensure that the appropriate male element is being inserted into the appropriate female element. Such coding may be achieved by providing lugs or projections on the exterior surface of the male connector element and providing recesses on a receptacle portion of the female connector element. By removing certain lugs or projections from the male connector element and blocking the channels in the receptacle of the female connector element, keying or coding can be achieved whereby a male connector element may only be inserted into an appropriate female connector element. That is, if a male connector element is attempted to be inserted into an improper female connector element, the projections from the male connector element will not fit within a channel in the receptacle of the female connector element but rather be blocked by the plugs in the channel and thus prevent improper mating of the connector elements.
During fabrication of wire harnesses, keying or coding is achieved by removing selected ones of the coding lugs at a coding station, while other selected coding lugs which correspond to appropriate slots in the socket element are retained or the connector elements. The coding lugs are easily removed by a severing knife assembly which may contain a plurality of knife blades. The knife blades are individually indexed on the knife assembly so that individual blades may be selectively placed in or out of position for severing the coding lugs. In this manner, the knife assembly may be preset to sever the coding lugs in any predetermined pattern on one connector element or on an array of connector elements arranged in side-by-side order.
One problem occurs in the severing of these coding lugs. The coding lugs are relatively small in size compared to size of the connector elements. Therefore, the coding lugs are very susceptible to static electricity forces. It has been found that this static electricity can cause severed coding lugs to "cling" to the severing knife blades. As connector elements are serially processed in the coding station, the severed coding lugs may accumulate on the knife blades of the knife assembly to the point where they may interfere with the ability of some or all of the knife blades to properly perform their severing function. In addition, the severed lugs may become lodged within the connector elements being terminated and thus render the connector element inoperable.
The present invention is therefore directed to an assembly for use in a coding station which prevents the severed coding lugs from accumulating on the severing knife blades during operation of the knife assembly. In this regard, the present invention presents a novel wiper assembly that engages the knife blades in a manner to wipe the severed coding lugs therefrom.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wire harness processing machine having an improved coding station which includes a cutoff knife wiper assembly which wipes severed coding lugs from a cutoff knife assembly.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel wiper assembly for use in conjunction with an electrical connector coding station wherein the coding station includes a connector advancement track, a severing knife assembly disposed in alignment with the advancement track and having a plurality of individual knife blades adapted to engage, and sever, selected coding lugs from connectors disposed in the advancement track, the wiper assembly including a wiper having a wiper arm extending proximate to the connector coding lugs and the knife blades, the wiper arm having a leading edge disposed proximate to the connector coding lugs and a trailing edge spaced apart therefrom, the leading and trailing edges defining a wiping surface in alignment with and engaging the knife blades, the leading edge of the wiper arm contacting coding lugs severed from the connector and collecting the severed coding lugs on a collection surface for removal.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a coding station for proceeding electrical connectors intended for use in wire harnesses, the coding station having means for holding an array of electrical connectors in place within a connector advancement track, severing means for severing selected individual coding lugs from the array of connectors, means for contacting the severing means and for collecting severed coding lugs clinging to the severing means after the coding lugs have been severed from the connector array, and pneumatic means for removing the severed coding lugs from the collecting means and expelling them to waste.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a wiper assembly for use with a coding station, the wiper assembly including a base element, a wiper element supported by the base element and extending outwardly therefrom, the wiper element having a wiper arm aligned with a knife assembly of the coding station such that the wiper arm abuttingly engages the cutoff blades of the knife assembly during cutoff movement of the knife blades, the wiper arm having a leading edge which defines a collection surface of the wiper arm upon which severed coding lugs may accumulate, the collection surface preventing the severed coding lugs from further contact with the knife assembly cutoff blades.